The 20-minute public session of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics was largely devoted to finding a speedy way to get to work on the backlog of matters that have piled up since the Commission on Public Integrity went to its reward last summer. Commissioner Pat Bulgaro put the number in the hundreds, and growing every day.

The bulging to-do list shouldn’t come as a surprise: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced the makeup of the new ethics watchdog on the last possible day allowable by statute — partly a result, Cuomo subsequently admitted, of his difficulty recruiting top-caliber commissioners.

After discussion, Bulgaro moved that JCOPE’s staff should be authorized to temporarily hire up to three attorneys and two investigators even as the search for an executive director continues. The motion passed without objection.

JCOPE is budgeted for 45 positions, 14 of them are currently vacant. Also, commissioners noted that its budget will get a 2.5 percent haircut in the 2012-13 fiscal year — its first full year of operation — per the Cuomo administration’s request to all state operations.

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